Central wrestlers split at Augusta

Andover Central's wrestling team opened its season Nov. 29 by splitting a triangular in Augusta. The Jaguars lost to Augusta 37-34 and beat Campus 61-15.

"We have a lot of inexperienced kids that wrestled their first varsity matches ever," Central coach Chris Saferite said. "Two of the kids wrestled their first matches ever."

Against Augusta, the Jags were up 28-6 at the halfway point. After the Orioles won the first match on a quick pin, the Jags won the next five matches. It started with a 4-2 decision by Dylan Keplar at 113. Zac Genzler, a three-time state champion and ranked No. 1 at 120 pounds, recorded a 20-4 tech fall win. Ben Lightfoot won a 15-4 major decision. Joe Umscheid (132) won by pin, Augusta was open at 138, and Paul Suhr (145) got a 9-0 major decision for the seemingly insurmountable 22-point advantage.

But the Orioles won the next five weights -- four pins and a major decision -- to edge in front 34-28. Central's Sterling Brown pinned his opponent at 195 to tie the match at 34-all. Augusta took a 4-0 decision at heavyweight to eke out the win.

"I really didn't know what to expect going into the dual, but we gave ourselves a chance to win and just came up a little short," Saferite said.

Central rolled against Campus as Dakota Rodd, Dylan Keplar, Zac Gentzler, Ben Lightfoot and Joe Umscheid opened the match by pinning their opponents.

Keplar, Gentzler, Lightfoot, Umscheid, Nic Augustine, Paul Suhr and Sterling Brown each won both of their matches on the night.

"We gained a lot of experience last night and we will continue to improve each week," Saferite said. "We looked very good at some weights and there a few other weights that we need to improve on."

The Jags compete at a tournament in Valley Center on Saturday and open league competition Thursday by hosting Eisenhower.